New Horizons
by Myrillis
Summary: Mistral is a dangerous place, and with not everything as it seems, any kind of help is needed. It's hard to trust anyone in this climate, but having each other's back should be more than enough, hopefully. Team RNJR is as prepared as they can be one their own, but a new face might be what they need to fare better than what happened in the last major battle they fought.
1. Prologue

The streets of Mistral looked more dismal than usual, well maybe that was because things weren't going that well anyways for one man. The weather sure showed this with its slight shower of rain. This man sighed as he stopped at a nearby bar. This man was the legendary huntsman Qrow Branwen, or at least that's what some called him. He did have a great reputation when compared to others in his profession. Qrow, though he hated it did stand out. Even when he slouched like he did most of the time, he was still taller than most, and the scent of alcohol was always around him. It tended to drive people away, so that was a plus if he was honest.

It was just past noon, but this morning was worse than others, and he still had the rest of it to go. He took a seat at the counter and signaled the bartender over.

"Hey, give me the strongest thing you got," he ordered.

"This early?" asked the bartender.

"Yeah, the day's already off to a shitty start," Qrow responded bluntly.

The bartender wandered off to get the drink, which gave Qrow a few moments to think _. What was I doing again?_ he thought _, Getting Huntsman, right…_ The bartender returned fairly quickly with what smelled like Moonshine.

"You got some pretty strong stuff," commented Qrow.

"Well, you look like you need it," stated the bartender placing down the drink, "You also seem like you have the money to pay for it."

"You're not wrong," Qrow answered taking the glass, "Hey can I ask you somethin'?"

"Shoot," said the Bartender.

"You know of any Huntsmen nearby?" Qrow asked after downing the moonshine in one swift gulp.

"Many of them have left to protect the little villages and stuff from what I heard," he said, "Apparently we've lost quite a few of them too."

That was exactly the answer Qrow didn't want to hear. _Fuck_ , he thought. Ozpin had his suspicions and quickly passed them onto Qrow. Well, it was really the other way around. Oz seemed to want to remain as optimistic as possible, and while that wasn't a bad thing, times like these needed some form of apprehensiveness. _That's enough for now,_ thought Qrow.

"Wow, I really needed a drink," Qrow said, "Thanks for the drink. And for the answer."

Qrow left the bar feeling worse than he did before, but at least he had a little more information. This wasn't the first bar he visited today, the first one almost got him stabbed though. He made his way to Haven Academy to see if any Huntsman for hire were up for grabs since so far, his leads have only led to dead ends. This was all to frustrating, nothing was going his way. As he walked, he finally took notice of how the streets were pretty empty, especially for Mistral. Last time he was here, you'd see Huntsman talking and exchanging stories of battles fought, or children playing in the streets, even during the rainy season. Maybe it was because of the fear of what happened to Beacon, he didn't know. But what he did know was that something was fishy. _I'll figure it out later,_ he thought. He did have a job to do after all.

When he finally made his way over to the Huntsman Listing board, he saw that most of the listings were occupied. Looking at the length of time they were gone was what really caught his eye. Many of them were gone for weeks. He sighed yet again, this time in anger. It just didn't make sense. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to find anyone. Or more likely, they didn't make it. He did notice that there was an anonymous huntsman, probably a foreign one, that was just freed up, and not wanting to miss this chance sent them a message, in hopes that he could at least not come home empty-handed.

On the miserable way home Qrow returned to the bar he first went to in hopes of finding a Huntsman named Wan Shiro, to no avail, but he did pay off the man's debt. At this point they'd been missing for too long, just like all the others he was in search of. When he made his way to the house they were staying in he just couldn't bring himself to go inside. Not just because of his disappointment, but because of his thoughts.

"This isn't right," he though aloud, "I get one of 'em but… all of them?"

He looked down in frustration when the sound of his sister's semblance shocked him out of it.

"Raven?!" he exclaimed, but then he heard the sound all to familiar to him, that of the motorcycle owned by his niece.

"Oh," he let out, seeing not just his niece, but the little Ice Queen on the back of Yang's motorcycle as it exited the portal.

"Guess I'm not comin' home empty-handed," he greeted.

"Nice to see you to Uncle," Yang said.

"Come 'ere firecracker," he said gesturing for a hug, to which she complied, "It's good to see you outta that slump."

"It feels good too," she responded with a smile as they ended the embrace.

"I see that you have company, but I'll ask about that another time," he said walking over to the door, "I know there's someone in there who you both wanna see more than me."

He opened it, and saw no one in the little entrance room, but he did smell the scent of some Mistralian dish.

"Hey, I'm back!" he shouted as he opened the door. He did hear a response, but didn't hear any footsteps, "Hey, a… Ruby?!" This time he did hear some. His little niece almost fainted when he saw the guests he brought, though she did destroy the tea set from the house. _Shit, I'm gonna have to pay for that,_ he thought. He didn't really pay attention to the little chat that happened, but he did smile when he saw the little team reunion that just happened.

 _Those kids sure know how to be fucking loud,_ he thought, as he tried to catch a nap. He knew that there was no way he could sleep through the noise, so he went up to go for a walk, when he ran into the kid that Ozpin had reincarnated into, _…Oscar, that's his name!_

"Hey kid," he greeted, "You need somethin'?"

"Uh… not me, but Ozpin wants to have a chat with the others downstairs," Oscar said.

"Alright then kid," Qrow responded, "Let's head down then."

 _I thought it would only be a little louder down here, but I was fucking wrong!_ Qrow thought.

"How can six kids possibly make so much noise eating dinner!" Qrow exclaimed when they reached the dining room.

The group made their way over to the dining room where they recapped over past events, or more so what happened to Yang and Wiess, Ozpin went over his whole spiel of the maidens and magic and whatever else. Eventually, they made their way over to the topic of Qrow being able to turn into a bird, a piece of information that Qrow thought Raven would have kept to herself. While Ozpin went into the specifics of it, he did mention that it was a choice given to them, not a curse. Eventually, the kids made their way upstairs to get some rest for the following day, and so did he, just later.

He actually managed to get two hours of sleep when he heard a knock on the door. _The fuck!_ he thought, _Who the fuck could be at the door at… two in the fucking morning!_ He was going to give whoever thought this was a good idea a piece of his mind, through his fists of course. He quietly made his way downstairs hoping not to wake the kids, with the exception of the orange haired one. That one could sleep through anything. He switched on the light at the entrance, and opened the door ready to scream at whoever it was, but that quickly died when he saw a familiar face… well, he had to look down to see that face.

"You?!" he exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"You?!" exclaimed the person at the door, a girl, "You're the one who sent out that mission request?"

The girl wasn't short per se, but when compared to Qrow, she looked tiny. She had a look of surprise on her face, and well it was warranted. She had her golden blonde hair tied in a French braid that reached to her neck before tapering off into a ponytail. Her large, almond neon blue eyes reading the deep red ones of Qrow, seeing if he knew it would be her, or if it was just a weird happenstance. She was dressed in a simple navy hoodie that looked a size to big, and a pair of black pants that also looked to large. She'd grown somewhat since the last time Qrow had met her, and noticed the duffle bag slung over her shoulder, probably housing her gear. Her features of her heart-shaped face softened as they settled on it being a coincidence through a non-verbal conversation

"Wait, why aren't you in Atlas like all the other… Atlas military people?" he asked finally, breaking the silence.

"'Cause I'm not exactly one to listen to authority that well," she answered smugly, "They keep me around 'cause I'm good at what I do. You should know."

"That doesn't explain why Ironwood isn't hunting you down?" he explained.

"I'm on mandatory vacation," she stated with a grin, "I can do whatever the fuck I want during that time, that and I still have some days left that I can pull of this doesn't last too long."

"He's gonna kill you, just so you know," Qrow stated.

"I know," said the girl, "So, do I go back to my hotel or are you gonna let me bunk here like your mission parameters said?"

"Yeah, come in kid," he said, "Just try not to wake everyone up."

 **Hope you enjoyed. Feedback is incredibly appreciated**


	2. Introductions

**Timeline: Basically takes place after the whole Yang-Wiess talk in V5 Chapter 8, but no spoilers are included.**

The girl woke up to what was not her hotel room. _Shit, it's already eleven,_ she thought as she got out of bed. She then proceeded to empty out her unceremoniously placed duffle bag. It had basically all the belongings she brought to Mistral. Her combat gear, a few sets of casual clothing and a few trinkets, including one picture of her family, non-biological that is. She took it out of the bag and sighed in remembrance. In it were herself, and four others, three women and a man, all of them with giant smiles on their faces while she herself was playing a guitar.

 _Should have brought it with me,_ she thought. She placed the photo on the dresser and changed into a fresh set of clothes, a blue long-sleeved shirt and a pair of grey sweats. She then followed the little morning work-out she made sure to do every day, a simple fifty one-armed push-ups, sit-ups and squats. Doing push-ups with both would be unfair after all, her left would just carry everything no issue. The arm wasn't natural, it was synthetic. It reminded her that she wasn't invincible, and that she wasn't the only one who could get hurt from her decisions.

She finally left the room, looking for something to eat. As she walked down the hallway she met with a boy who was probably with Qrow. He didn't look like much, but maybe he wasn't there for muscle.

"H-Hey, you must be the new girl that Qrow just told me about," said the boy shyly, "Well, it's good that we have more people. My name's Oscar, but I believe there's someone else who wants to speak with you."

"Um, you're not making much since, Oscar was it?" she said before a change was seen within the boy. His eyes shifted colour, and the air around him shifted as well. His expression shifted to one of a professional, one trained to hide his emotions. It also leaked with confidence, something that the other one lacked.

"So, you're the one Qrow mentioned," he said with the same but different voice, "Now I see that you are slightly confused as to what just happened, and you will be filled in accordingly. But first I need see if you fit what is required of you."

"And what exactly is that?" asked the girl.

"Hey, there's an intruder up here!" he shouted at the top of his lungs using the voice of Oscar, "Enjoy" he said reverting back to the voice of the different person.

Before she could react, she heard the sound of many footsteps rushing towards her from down below, and one set from behind her. She heard that he was armed and armoured with the clinking of metal, and she ducked low, dodging the horizontal slash of a large gold and white blade.

"Hey, wait!" she yelled, but was met with more attacks, "This is just a big understanding!"

Seeing that the person had no plans on stopping, she swiped the person's legs out from under them in an instant, seeing guy who looked like a knight, someone who she recognised from the Vytal Tournament. She jumped over him and ran to her room, leaving a shocked looking knight-guy and a scared looking Oscar out in the hall.

She knew she wouldn't have time to grab her gear, so only grabbed her gaunt. She threw it on as quickly as she could and escaped out the window, landing on the ground by a cliff.

"Ah, shit," she cursed, as she saw that wasn't a fall she could take without getting hurt.

"She got out the window!" she heard a voice shout.

"Crapbaskets!" she yelled as she saw a red figure burst out the window in a flurry of rose petals.

She side-stepped the scythe that just tried to cleave her in half and wasted no time in delivering a swift punch to it's user's gut, sending them flying away from their weapon and into a wall. Just as she did that, she heard what sounded like a shotgun fire, and looked to see a red-eyed, blonde-haired woman careening straight towards her.

The red-eyed blonde, on her path towards the blue-eyed girl, threw a punch with her mechanical arm, expecting it to easily crush the newcomer. Instead she was met with a similarly thrown punch from a mechanical arm stopping her dead in her tracks. They locked eyes, and the red-eyed woman glared daggers at her opponent. The other grimaced in effort.

The red-eyed one then grinned smuggly as a trail of ice was quickly making its way towards the smaller blonde. The smaller one suddenly separated herself from the mechanical arm and jumped over the ice path right as it created spikes where she would have been standing. She recalled the arm causing the other blonde to topple over. The arm returned to its owner just in time to block a giant sword of a giant white knight.

She was thrown to the ground and landed harshly. She wanted to rest, but rolled out of the way of a giant hammer slamming right where her head was. She jumped up as quick as she could and had to lean backwards in order to dodge a set of green blade guns. She still hadn't had the chance to draw her weapons. As she dodged the blades on instinct alone, she saw the girl with the hammer swing right for her head… again. She shifted her mechanical arm and managed to get the hammer to glance off it, driving it into the ground. This shocked her other assailant, and finally gave her the chance to release the twin forearm blades from her gauntlet and arm. She sent a two-footed kick to the hammer wielder, sending her away for the time being.

She shifted her focus towards the green-clad blade wielder and met him in a clash of blades. He then started firing from the weapons, and she flung her head out of the way just in time to not be met with a few dust rounds to the face. She retracted one arm from the clash and activated the integrated submachine gun and fired a flurry of dust rounds into his chest area, which forced him to retreat in order to avoid the storm of bullets.

She was quickly met two slashes from the scythe-girl and knight-guy which she jumped right over, only to be met with a giant punch to the stomach from the other blonde, sending her careening into the same wall she sent the scythe-girl into. A white figure quickly dashed in with the help of glyphs to take advantage of the girl's weakened state, only for the girl to meet the attack head on. The blue-eyed blonde's eyes shifted colour to orange that and her pupils now resembled a dragon's as neon blue armour was projected across her body. In her strengthened state she made quick work of her newest attacker, unleashing a set of attacks at inhuman speeds, sending them flying into the hammer-girl, the blade-wielder, and the knight.

The scythe-girl stepped in and was able to match the speed of the girl's attacks, but not the strength, and it was this strength that won out, which led to scythe-girl backing out, only to be replaced by the other blonde who opposite scythe-girl, matched the strength, but not the speed. It was when the two of them fought together that the now-orange-eyed blonde found herself on the defensive.

She changed up her attack pattern and took an attack in order to throw off the rhythm that the duo had established since the start of the onslaught. This worked, causing the scythe-girl to misstep, and that was all she needed. She stuck her leg out slightly, causing the scythe-girl to trip and almost land into an attack from the red-eyed blonde. The red-eyed blonde was able to realise this in time and stopped her attack in order to catch the scythe-girl, allowing the orange-eyed blonde to disengage. She managed to make it to a clear area of the yard, and prepared herself for the rest of the attackers to start.

The remaining attackers readied themselves before charging their opponent. This however was not stopped by her, but by the man known as Qrow who stepped in front of the blonde, to the surprise of everyone.

"What the Hell is going on here?!" he demanded angrily, looking at each of the attackers in the eyes.

"Get back Qrow!" yelled the knight-guy, "That girl's really dangerous!" To which the others gave answers of affirmation.

"Yeah, I know!" he yelled back, "That's why I… Yes me… Asked her to come here!"

"What?!" the attackers yelled in confusion.

"Put away your weapons, all of you!" he shouted, cleary pissed off, and everyone saw that and quickly complied.

"This was no fault of their's Qrow," said the different voice of Oscar, "I believed it would be a good idea to test this girl, to see if she would be fit to join, and I believe I have my answer."

"You have to be kidding me here," Qrow said, "Right Oz?"

"Quite the opposite in fact," replied different Oscar or Oz, "The only way we could have a reliable test would be for the children to believe that young Oscar was in trouble, otherwise they would not have attacked at full strength."

"Um... I'm technically a child too," interjected the girl.

"Hm… I was not notified of this Qrow," said Oz.

"Oh no, don't you dare pin this one on me!" shouted Qrow, "I'm not the one who thought it would be a good idea to sic the kids on anyone!"

"Well, it did provide the proof I needed," stated Oz, "I believe that she is well suited to the task of what we wish for her to partake in. She demonstrated the ability to fend off a group of six talented individuals without sustaining much damage, while disarming and incapacitating some of them at different points during that engagement, something key when doing battle against large groups. She also revealed improvements that could be made by each and every one who participated in the fight, and that in itself is incredibly valuable.

"Overall, she is more than competent enough to stand with you as a comrade, and though this little exercise may have left some… negative feelings, it is important that you must disregard these quickly. That is if you accept Ms…" said Oz trialing off for the girl to fill the gaps.

"Mizudori, Cassandra Mizudori," filled in the girl, or Cassandra, "I know my name is a mouthful, so just call me Cass or Cassie, don't really care which."

"Well, Ms. Mizudori, I cannot give you the specifics of the mission," said Oz, "Unless you accept, but I will tell you know that you are surely to be putting your life at risk more than any other missions you may have undertaken so far. It will be a long one, that I can say surely. If you have any prior commitments, I suggest you turn down this offer."

She thought to how she should probably return to Atlas, but really, she didn't care. She didn't care to be cooped up in the country like what had happened to all the other Atlas military units. Plus, this could be used as an excuse, but she'd probably get discharged anyways, so what the Hell.

"Alright, um… Oz…" said Cassie unsure of different Oscar's name, "I'll gladly accept your offer."

"Hm, that settles it then, and for future reference, my name is Ozpin, though the others refer to me as Professor Ozpin," he said while walking away.

"As in headmaster of Beacon Ozpin?" asked Cassandra dumbfounded.

"All will be explained tomorrow," he said walking away, "Please take the change to settle any issues now, as this will be your final chance to do so before the pieces are put into play."

"So… umm… I'm sorry," apologised Cassie.

"Hey, you don't have anything to be sorry about," said the knight, "You tried to settle this earlier, but I kinda kept attacking you. The name's Jaune Arc."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Jaune," replied Cassie, "I may have been a little quick to knock you down. Probably shoulda tried harder."

"Well, now that you kids are settling things, I'm just gonna go," said Qrow as he left as quickly as possible.

"Um… Cassie, since your gonna be joining us on this thing, we should probably introduce ourselves," said scythe-girl, "My name's Ruby Rose. Oh, and you're really really good at fighting. Like no one's usually as fast as I am, but you kept up and hit even harder. Your arm is so awesome by the way!"

"Thanks, Ruby," replied Cassie, "You're not so bad yourself."

"Well, she's amazing for a sixteen-year-old," said the red… wait, now lilac-eyed girl, "Woops, the name's Yang Xiao-Long. Ruby's older sister, and how come your arm is so much cooler than mine?"

"This one was made for me and me alone, designed from the ground up for lil' ol' me by a tinkerer. She also designed my weapons" answered Cassie.

"Huh, you gotta let me meet them," said Yang.

"Me too!" exclaimed Ruby

"You might recognise me, or you might not but, my name is Wiess Schnee," said the white-haired girl.

"Oh, well this makes things awkward…" mumbled Cassie, "I'm sorry Wiess."

"What for?" asked Wiess confused.

"I was on a mission to defend one of your relatives," started Cassie, "It was supposed to be a simple mission, bodyguard Ralph Schnee and that's it. It was about three years ago, and I was young, so it was meant to be a routine mission. What we didn't expect was a full on White Fang attack. I was with a few others who I was supposed to shadow, but suddenly our train stopped, and we hear an explosion. Windows shatter and none other than Adam Taurus, leader of the Vale White Fang emerges and one of others was quickly killed by him. I was horrified, and I tried to do something, but was stopped by the highest Atlas ranked officer. As others were getting hurt I just couldn't handle being unable to do anything, so I tried. The Atlas officer was injured and was about to be killed, so I jumped in, hoping to catch Adam off guard.

"I managed hit him once, and to block of few of his slashes, but the train car was not suited to my fighting style and he was just better than me. He tossed me to the ground and stomped on my chest. I could barely breathe. He laughed, and through his mask I could see the joy in his eyes. I looked over at my superior, who was also barely alive, and I saw the look of horror on his face. I tried to put on a brave face, but I couldn't hold it as he drew and X with his sword across my stomach, not enough to kill me, but enough to draw blood. The Schnee could only stare as he saw this, and Taurus just looked at him and said: "She's getting off easy Schnee. You… You're getting something much worse."

"He took off one of my blades and stabbed it through my right arm and into the ground to hold it in place and this time I screamed. He drew another line on my left arm, where the shoulder connects to the arm," Cassie said as she lifted up her left sleeve, revealing where her mechanical arm started, "He looked me in the eyes and slashed my arm clean off. I almost passed out from the pain right then and there. "You see this Schnee," he said lifting up my severed arm, "You did this to her. This is nothing compared to the pain you've caused the Faunus race. Hear her screams Schnee? A whisper compared to the screams of the Faunus. I'll end you one by one in order to right what has been done to us." He dropped my arm and looked as though he were about to end me. He would have too, if Ralph hadn't charged Adam, catching him off guard. This gave the officer the time to get me into a different car of the train.

"Ralph Schnee was holding his own against Taurus, but he was no where near strong enough, just like me… He took a stab to the stomach, and there wasn't much he could do after that. The officer instead took the fatal blow, forcing Ralph out of the way and into the car with me. He took his gun and shot the coupling between the two cars sending us away without him. He gave us one last smile as he pulled away before going back in to meet what should have been my fate," Cassie said starting to break down, "Ralph was paralyzed from the waist down because I wasn't strong enough. Because I didn't do something earlier. I- I…"

"Cassandra, it… it's not your fault," Wiess reassured walking over to the girl, "You were so young… Uncle Ralph, he doesn't blame you for any of that. He told me stories about a little girl who fought to protect him, even though her opponent was much stronger. Even in defeat she showed no fear through the pain. I… I think he was referring to you."

"I don't deserve any praise from anyone," said Cassie.

"Hey, maybe you weren't strong enough then," said Jaune, "Look at yourself now though. You fought all six of us and you were doing really well. And that was with you not trying to kill us."

"Thanks, Jaune, but…" Cassie tried to say.

"The past is in behind you," Jaune said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "I didn't just cause someone to get hurt because I wasn't good enough. They died because I wasn't. You feel bad about what happened, and so do I, but it's how we push forward. That's what makes you strong. Look at you. Everyone here, other than me is no push-over. Not just that, but we have teamwork and we still had a really hard time.

"He is not wrong," added the blade-wielder, "You were certainly more than strong enough to defeat us one on one. I haven't had the chance to introduce myself, but I am Lie Ren, but please just call me Ren. The girl, or rather my girlfriend beside me is Nora."

"You fight pretty good for someone dressed like a civilian," said the Hammer-wielder.

"Nora," Ren admonished.

"It's not like you gave me the chance to change," Cassie retorted looking at Jaune.

"In my defence I thought that something bad was happening to Oscar," Jaune defended.

"Sure Vomit-boy, but he has Professor Ozpin there to switch out if things got too hairy," said Yang, "You really know how to be a gentleman."

"Well, I was pulling those swings I'll have you know," said Jaune with a pout.

"It's not like any of those would've hit her Jauney," said Nora, "Ruby could barely hit her!"

"That's because my fighting style is all about dodging and redirection," stated Cassie, "How 'bout we all head inside. I could use a breather."

"Not yet, there's one thing we have to do first," declared Yang with a huge grin.

"What's that?" asked Cassie.

"An arm-wrestle!"

Eventually the group of children made their way back to the house, and settled down in the entrance room. Yang and Jaune were playing first-person shooter, with Yang blowing Jaune out of the water, score-wise and literally. Nora was lying with her head in Ren's lap as he read a book, surprisingly peacefully. Wiess and Ruby were talking with Cassie, well Wiess was talking with Cassie. Ruby was fawning over her arm.

"It's so cool!" she exclaimed as she looked all around the arm for the fifth time.

"I still don't get how it beat mine!" yelled Yang as she shot Jaune right in the face, much to his dismay.

"Well Yang, it's made from really sturdy stuff," said Ruby, "Don't know what's on the inside though."

"Here," said Cassie, unmounting her entire arm, save for the shoulder brace that it connected to, "Just don't break it. I kinda need it."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" exclaimed Ruby as she ran over to the nearest clear table.

"You're really going to let her do that?" asked Wiess dumbfounded.

"Yeah, she built her own weapon, and she's been eyeing it since after the fight," answered Wiess, "I could tell she really wanted to ask, but didn't want to make it awkward. She just… looked like a sad puppy, especially the eyes! Those eyes can make you do anything."

"They can certainly make Yang do anything, or maybe all blondes in general," said Wiess overlooking the room.

"It worked on me, that's for sure," stated Cassie.

"Why did you come here though?" asked Wiess, "I mean, you're a part of the Atlas military, and I heard they all got called back."

"That's true, but I'm on mandatory leave," answered Cassie, "All specialists have to take 'rest breaks' so this is mine."

"It doesn't seem like much of a rest," Wiess said.

"Ha, I get too bored, so I do missions out of town to keep me happy," said Cassie, "And it makes some Lien on the side."

"I thought Atlas specialists get paid well," said Wiess.

"We do, but that," she said pointing to the arm Ruby was tinkering with, "Is very expensive. It helps to have some Lien to spare if something were to happen."

"Wouldn't your parents be willing to pay for repairs?" asked Wiess.

"I wouldn't know," said Cassie, "I never got to meet 'em. I don't even know if they're alive."

"Cassandra, I… I'm sorry," Wiess said sincerely.

"Eh, I don't really care," said Cassie, "It doesn't matter 'cause, I some great people looking after me. A Beacon graduate team basically took me in. They trained me to become what I am today. Pushed me harder than any school could've. I live with two of 'em fell in love at Beacon, and became a couple. They would've wanted me to stay over my 'break,' but they're Huntresses too, so they understand my restlessness. Speaking of, they said they'd be visiting Mistral soon, so I'll probably talk to them if we have some downtime on this 'really long mission'."

"Now that that's out of the way," said Cassie, "What made you want to come here?"

"Well, meeting my team was pure coincidence if that's what you're asking," said Wiess, "I left Atlas so that I could get away from my Father. Yang came here to find Ruby, and the others came with her originally."

"I guess, everything turned out alright for you guys so far," said Cassie.

"Yeah, I mean it hasn't been easy, but we've got almost everyone we're missing," said Wiess, "I just hope it will continue as it has."

"You know, you guys are more fun than anyone else in Atlas, and I've only known you guys for like a few hours," said Cassie, "All so uptight, it's so boring."

"I've met a few who don't conform to the Atlesian social norms," said Wiess.

"I gotta meet 'em!" exclaimed Cassie.

"Your arm is so much cooler than Yang's," said Ruby appearing in a flurry of rose petals behind her, arm in hand.

"Hey!" yelled Yang, this time smacking Jaune with the butt of her rifle.

"Damn it!" Jaune yelled.

"Well, you can't change facts Yang!" Ruby said sticking out her tongue.

"You wanna bet Ruby," said Yang getting up and grinning maniacally at her sister.

"Now, Yang you know I didn't mean it," Ruby said with fear in her eyes.

"I'm not too sure about that Ruby," Yang said walking over to Ruby, not towering over her as much as she used to, but it was intimidating nonetheless.

"Gotta go bye!" Ruby said running away as quickly as she could, leaving Cassie's arm behind, which Yang caught and handed over without taking her eyes off from her little sister. Giving her sister five seconds, Yang then bolted after Ruby, leaving everyone hoping Ruby would survive the hour.

"This is gonna be an interesting mission," Cassie said to no one in particular.

 **Hope you enjoyed. Feedback again is appreciated.**


	3. Time Well Spent

The afternoon quickly passed as the teens spoke of their adventures over the past few months, and even some old ones. Ruby, being herself was still curious about Cassie's weapons, so they ended up leaving the main group after the whole Yang-Ruby chase. Ruby pulled her into her room and over to a table with tools organised quite well. Her Crescent Rose was lovingly placed lovingly her bed, and she beckoned Cassie over to the desk.

"You brought me here because…" Cassie said.

"Because, you gotta show me the rest of weapon!" completed Ruby, "I saw some of it when I looked at your arm. You didn't even use everything you had, and you still were kicking our butts."

"You guys never gave me the chance to actually use it," responded Cassie, "I would have had to create some space, but that would have given you guys more time to plan or communicate, which you should work on by the way. You guys were practically silent."

"Well, we haven't really had the chance to fight anything other than Grimm, apart from that scorpion guy we fought," replied Ruby, "But what about the weapon Cassie?! You gotta let me see it!"

"Sure," said Cassie as she activated a mechanism on her arm, releasing what looked to be the body of a gun and a rear grip, but it was looked as though it was missing something. She then attached it to a point on her right gauntlet which connected and formed the foregrip and a different style of stock that Ruby had never seen before. A barrel came out the front of the newly formed weapon. Cassie handed it over to Ruby.

"Woah, this is so light!" exclaimed Ruby, "How come the trigger's so big?"

"So, you can do this," said Cassie placing two fingers over the trigger. Ruby gave her a confused look before Cassie alternated her fingers in rapid succession over the trigger. Really rapid in Ruby's opinion, like her fingers were a blur at that point.

"Holy crap Cassie!" Ruby said, "That's like really fast!"

"Eh, there are people who can do it a lot faster than I do," replied Cassie, "I can only hit it like twelve times a second, sometimes fifteen if I really try."

"Woah, Cassie!" exclaimed Yang as she peered into the room, "I wonder what else those fingers could be used for," she said with a wink as she left the two to their own devices, making her implied message very clear.

"Bad Yang!" Ruby shouted, "Ugh, why does she have to be like this?"

"'Cause she loves you," said Cassie, "My pseudo sister Opal does the same to me."

"Is she from the team that took you in?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah, she's the one who made all of this," Cassie said, gesturing to her arm and weapon as deactivated it, allowing the shell of her right gauntlet to reform, and placing the body in her left arm.

"Woah, all of it?" Ruby asked.

"Yup," Cassie said simply, "I wouldn't be half the warrior I am now without her."

"Wow, it'd be really cool to meet her," said Ruby.

"Well, she is working on a new model of my arm, 'cause this one's getting a little short," said Cassie stretching out her arms, showing how her left was about a half-inch shorter, "See?"

"Oh, I see," said Ruby, "Do you think Yang will ever need a new one?"

"Well, how old is she?" asked Cassie.

"Eighteen," Ruby replied.

"Okay, and has she grown at all over the past two years?" asked Cassie.

"Nope," said Ruby, "But I have," she said proudly.

"Well, I think she should be good," said Cassie, "I'm a 'late bloomer' as Opal says, so I've still got about a year left."

"How old are you Cassie?" asked Ruby.

"Sixteen," she responded.

"Hey, we're the same age!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Wait a minute," stopped Cassie, "How'd you get into Beacon?"

"Now that I think about it, maybe it wasn't as much of a coincidence as I thought," Ruby said, "I was fighting Roman Torchwick 'cause he was robbing a dust store I was shopping at. Then I ended up getting brought to an interview room place where Ozpin said my eyes were silver. Oh, he probably accepted me because of my eyes!"

"Like the Silver-Eyed Warriors tale?" asked Cassie.

"Yeah, like that one!" exclaimed Ruby.

"Isn't that just a fairy tale?" Cassie asked.

"Yes, but as Ozpin and Qrow say 'These legends are all based on facts,'" replied Ruby, "Anyhow, they'll tell you about it tomorrow."

"Alright then," Cassie said, "So… Wanna shoot this thing?" she said, pulling out her weapon.

"How do you even aim this thing?!" asked Ruby trying to aim the weapon, but it had no sights, making it extremely difficult.

"You don't aim it like a normal gun Ruby," Cassie instructed as she plucked it out of Ruby's hands.

"You see how the stock is rounded," said Cassie, "It allows you to have more mobility. This gun isn't the most accurate by far, but it more than handles itself against most assault-style weapons at mid-range. With something like this you aim down the barrel on one of the sides. Then you let it rip."

Cassie then proceeded to ready the weapon, digging the cylindrical stock into her shoulder and aimed down the barrel of the gun, keeping both eyes open which surprised Ruby. What also surprised her was how Cassie tilted the gun rather than keeping it straight.

"Now you fire," said Cassie as she unleashed a barrage of dust bullets.

"All of that with in semi?" asked Ruby.

"Yup," responded Cassie.

"Doesn't it make it harder to fire when moving," asked Ruby.

"Not really," asked Cassie, proceeding to demonstrate maintaining a consistent rate of fire, "And you aren't one to talk Ms Bolt-Action scythe-sniper."

"I have to be that good with my baby!" exclaimed Ruby, "She's my pride and joy!"

"Your baby?" Cassie questioned.

"Crescent Rose of course," Ruby said in disbelief.

"The sniper-scythe?" asked Cassie.

"Yes Cassandra, that term refers to my beautiful Crescent Rose," Ruby answered.

"Okay then," Cassie said unsurely, "Is there like some romance goin' on between you two?"

"She's just my bestest friend ever," Ruby replied.

"Well, I'll make sure not to tread between that friendship," Cassie said, "So you wanna give it a shot?" she said, gesturing to the weapon once more.

"Oh yeah!" Ruby shouted.

Ruby took the weapon from Cassie and tried to imitate what Cassie had shown her. She found that the weapon had very little recoil and was easy to control, and was able to fire accurately from up to about one-hundred-twenty feet, with the weapon sending streams of bullets that followed the first.

"Geez, this is more accurate than Ren's Stormflowers," Ruby commented.

"Well, I mean, his are constructed differently right," said Cassie, "The barrel length is extremely limited, and the same could be said for my weapon in its gauntlet form. It's meant to enhance our melee capabilities. The form that your holdin' is meant to supress Grimm and people from farther away than the other form, but can quickly collapse if things get hairy."

"Ah, that makes more sense," Ruby though aloud, "Ren doesn't really try to engage from far away, and you didn't really have the space to engage with this."

"It's very good at poking people's aura," said Cassie.

"Sure looks it," Ruby said, "How do you reload this thing?"

"You see the little button by the bottom of the grip?" asked Cassie, "Just flip that and a little chamber will open up and you can just shove a dust crystal, any kind in there. Best part is you don't have to stop firing while that's goin' on. The thing'll beep when it starts runnin' low, and at that point it has enough room for a new crystal."

"Pretty intuitive," Ruby said, "What did you base this off of?"

"A tournament style paintball gun," Cassie stated proudly.

"Really?" asked a confused Ruby.

"Laugh all you want, but before all this Atlas stuff and to this day, I still play" Cassie said, "It's simple to use and pretty effective, so why not?"

"You're not wrong," said Ruby, "It's just not very traditional."

"I'm not very traditional," Cassie said smugly.

"I can see that," Ruby replied.

"Hey, New Girl, Ruby!" shouted a voice.

Ruby and Cassie turned around to see that Yang was waving them down. They got up and started walking over.

"Heya, Cass," Yang greeted, "Do you mind if we talk a little? We should probably get to know each other better since you're joining us."

"Not at all Yang," Cassie replied, "Hey… Ruby do you mind givin' us a little bit?"

"Oh sure," Ruby said, "I'll be with Wiess."

Yang and Cassie made their way to Yang's room, where Yang gestured Cassie to sit on the bed.

"So… what did you wanna talk about?" asked Cassie.

"Well for starters, where are you from and how old are you?" asked Yang

"I'm from Atlas and I'm sixteen," Cassie responded.

"Wait then how come you're part of the military already?" asked Yang.

"Well, it's not like I wanted too," Cassie stated, "When I lost my arm time were rough as is, and even though my guardians were successful Huntresses, they didn't really have a stable income since all they could do was take missions. They were too young to try and get a teachin' job. I was down an arm and my dream of becomin' a Huntress getting' further away with every day. My sister- well not blood sister- happened to have a job as a tech workin' under Ironwood and my situation came to light. He offered to give her the resources to make me an arm, and to continually improve upon it if I were to become a soldier under him. He said I'd get all the trainin' I'd need to become a Huntress and would be able to participate in all the examinations at Atlas or any Huntsman academy. I needed the arm, and my dream just got that much closer, so I took the deal and started trainin' earlier than most."

"Well, that somewhat explains how you kicked all of our collective asses," Yang commented.

"Like I told Ruby, the main thing you guys need to work on is teamwork," said Cassie, "You're a unit, and now we're a unit. Ruby said they only talked to each other durin' down time, and that isn't good unless it's a stealth mission. Use code or whatever, doesn't really matter. Point is since we have so many people, we need to make use of them, right?"

"There's nine of us right now," Yang recalled, "That's a lot more than I'm used to."

"Hell, I think its more than any of us are used to," said Cassie, "But we need to make it work. This is gonna be a long ride Yang. Don't know how this is gonna end, but I can already tell it's gonna be something more important than anything I've done so far."

"Hey, you're getting paid for this right?" asked Yang.

"I guess so," Cassie answered, "Qrow put a hefty price on the mission, but I don't really want Lien for something like this. It wouldn't sit right with me."

"But what about your arm and stuff?" asked Yang.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Cassie said, "I already made some Lien doin' missions here. I'll manage."

"You're giving up so much time though," Yang pushed, "I got this arm from who-knows-where, and I know my dad didn't pay for it. Qrow has enough Lien to spare Cass."

"Well, let's not worry about something so minimal now," Cassie said changing the subject, "Let's talk weapons!"

"Geez, no wonder Ruby likes you already," Yang said activating her weapons, "Alright, my gauntlet and the now built in gun in my arm is called Ember Celica. They're based off a shot gun, and placed on my fists so I can amplify my punches. Your turn."

"I have two short barrelled SMGs, one in the gauntlet and one in the arm," Cassie said activating hers, "Under those are two blades that slice stuff. The SMG in my arm separates from its housin' and combines with the gauntlet to form a longer SMG, so more accuracy, just a lower rate of fire."

"What do you call it?" asked Yang.

"Aokenryu," Cassie said.

"Cool," Yang replied, "So little Miss Atlas Military has a weapon named in Mistrali."

"My name is Mistralian Yang," Cassie rebutted.

"Oh yeah," Yang said, "Woops."

"So, how're things with the arm?" asked Cassie, "I heard it was relatively new."

"It is, and its cool and all, but its not the same as the old one," Yang said glumly.

"What doesn't feel the same about it?" asked Cassie.

"It just feels dull," Yang stated, "Like I can feel stuff, but not really."

"That's how mine felt a few years ago," Cassie remembered, "I think that I can get Opal to bring over another set of sensors with the new arm."

"You don't have to do that Cass, really," Yang tried to refuse.

"Hey, having this kind of arm isn't easy Yang," said Cassie, "I want you to have an easier time than I did. When I first got the arm attached, it was Hell. It's much easier now, but they're not perfect. Opal made mine to help with the transition, so she'd probably help you out too."

"Are you sure?" Yang questioned.

"Sensors aren't super expensive Yang," said Cassie.

"Then I'll pay Cass," Yang stated, "Let me help you help me Cass. Geez that was a mouthful."

"It certainly was," said Cassie, "But hey, I'm more than down to help you out."

"Well, the same goes for me," Yang replied, "You're a pretty cool girl Cass."

"You're not so bad yourself Xiao-Long," Cassie said.

"Only not so bad?" Yang questioned, "Have you seen this hot bod?!"

"I'll admit it is definitely one of the finer ones I've seen," replied Cassie.

"Eh!?" Yang exclaimed at the bold statement, "You… actually said something… No one does that."

"I mean, don't get me wrong," Cassie said, "You are gorgeous. Just you know, you look a little too much like my Mother… well pseudo-mother, but you get the point."

"Umm… Thanks?" said Yang, "You're really direct."

"It's better this way," said Cassie, "That way I don't have to hide anything."

"Not everything is that simple you know," Yang replied.

"You're right," Cassie responded, "Everyone has their secrets, Hell I have some of my own, but feelings? Those are somethin' I have trouble handling so I just keep them out in the open."

"Well, I can respect that Cass," Yang stated, "It's just something I don't think I can follow through with. Quick question though, are you bi or full on lesbian?"

"Girls through and through Yang," Cassie replied, "Don't get me wrong, guys are cool and all, I just don't find myself interested in them that way. Some definitely look good for sure. I can always appreciate a toned body. I just never clicked with one."

"Huh…" Yang said, "Never clicked?"

"Yeah," Cassie responded, "You hang out with all kinds of people when your sent off to places on missions. I found out what I liked and what I don't. Met with really great and really shitty people. Had some crushes, had people crush on me for some reason – don't know why – but I just never crushed on a guy. Many of them were good looking, and many were really cool and nice, but it was the girls with those traits that caught my eye. I learnt what I like with time you could say."

"You're pretty mature Cass," said Yang, "For someone as old as Ruby, you sure act different."

"I think this," Cassie said lifting up her left arm, "Is what made me how I am. Things probably would've been different if I didn't lose my arm. I guess it made me grow quicker than Ruby, but she is probably much stronger than I am. Look at everything you all have gone through. Jaune and his crew have said that she's basically been the same girl she was from the beginnin'. She's got a strong resolve and it'll certainly inspire others."

"Heh, you're probably right," said Yang, "She won't let anything get her down. I just hope that her stubbornness doesn't get her hurt. My stubbornness is what made me lose my arm."

"How so?" asked Cassie.

"I jumped in hoping to stop someone much more powerful than me," Yang stated, "It wasn't even a smart idea, I just thought my semblance could power through it… but it couldn't. I lost my arm and made my best friend's worst nightmare come true… That's why she left… To protect me… our team from that psycho."

"Well sister-in-arms, we both lost our arms in defence of others, so that's gotta count for something right," Cassie said, "Anyhow… Even though you can't be there for your friend, you're here for Ruby."

"But I wasn't there for her," said Yang dejectedly, "Not when she needed me. Truth is I just got here. Ruby travelled here without me, and fought stuff that she shouldn't have had to. Hell, I had this thing for about a week before I even put it on! At least Qrow was there when I couldn't be."

"Don't you think maybe you needed that time?" asked Cassie.

"Huh?" Yang responded.

"I mean, you just lost your arm, and a friend left for who-knows-where," Cassie stated, "You probably weren't in the right headspace to even think about goin' on a trip like that. Now, just focus on what you came here to do I guess."

"Heh, I'm supposed to be the one giving you advice little one," Yang laughed.

"Hey!" Cassie exclaimed "I'm not short!"

"I mean, Ruby's grown a bit, but she is taller than you for sure," Yang pressed.

"Grrr…" Cassie growled.

"Finally, some ammunition," Yang said, "I usually find something within an hour of conversation, but you were difficult to crack. Gotcha now though."

"I'll have you know I am average height for girls my age!" Cassie exclaimed.

"You take this really seriously," Yang said through some giggles.

"Whatever Yang," Cassie said defeated.

"You know I'm just poking fun, right?" Yang asked.

"Yeah… I just get defensive," responded Cassie.

"Why?" Yang prodded.

"I'll tell you some other time, alright?" Cassie asked.

"Sure," said Yang dismissing the question, "So… your eyes change colour too?"

"Oh, yeah," Cassie answered, "They go all orange and stuff when I activate my semblance."

"Yeah, your hits are pretty tough, well more than that," Yang said, "Even with my semblance powering me up, you were just too quick girl."

"My semblance is basically an amplifier," said Cassie, "It amplifies my abilities like an amp for a guitar or something. Found it when getting really into a song I was playing when my strength broke it."

"Really?" questioned Yang.

"Yeah really, come check this out," said Cassie beckoning Yang over to look at her scroll.

A little Cassie looked almost entranced as she played her song. As Yang listened she thought about the girl beside her. She thought of the hardships she's already faced and yet she is still pushing forward. Though Yang still cared about Blake, she needed to get over the pain sometime. Maybe an example was all she needed.

A loud crack erupting from the scroll pulled Yang out of her trance in time to see little Cassie activate her semblance and break her guitar.

"You weren't kidding huh?" Yang asked.

"Nope," Cassie said, "I got really into it and boom! Semblance!"

"Ruby'll have a field day with that!" Yang exclaimed.

"Most people do," Cassie replied, "No one believes me when I tell them, but video usually gets everyone laughing."

"You know it's getting kinda late Cass," Yang observed as she yawned, "Wanna call it a night?"

"Sure," Cassie replied, "I get filled in, so I might wanna catch as much sleep as I can."

"Cool," said Yang, "Good night."

Ruby awoke to hushed voices coming outside in the hall of her room. Curious she began to listen in on the conversation being had. At first, she was unable to tell who it was, but made it out to be Qrow and Cassie. She was able to make out some of the subject matter… something about needing help, how Qrow as the only one who knew about the problem.

"You know you don't have to do this anymore," Qrow said.

"Yeah, but you know I need to make ends meet Qrow," whispered Cassie.

"Kid, I'm paying you for this mission," Qrow stated, "You know that right?"

"And I already told you that I'm not takin' any Lien for a mission this serious," said Cassie.

"You barely know what it's about," Qrow retorted.

"Well, somethin' tells me that Ozpin bein' in that kid's body is pretty damn serious," Cassie said, "Look, just help me out tonight okay? I can't do it myself 'cause of the whole fight thing that happened earlier."

"Fine kid, you win," Qrow finally said, "We can't do it here."

"I know, so let's at least get out of the house," Cassie suggested.

"There's a forest not to far from here kid," Qrow said, "Does that work?"

"Yeah, it does," said Cassie.

Soon after that, Ruby heard the two leave the house, albeit they did so quietly. Curiosity taking the better of her, she went and woke up her sister. Yang, though not happy changed her mind as she heard Ruby's rendition of events.

"They just left?" asked Yang.

"Yeah," Ruby replied, "Something's up with her Yang. Something about Qrow needing to do something to her so she can get some Lien."

"And they left the house to do it?!" Yang questioned, "I didn't know she was hurting for Lien this bad. Look, maybe we can help her out. Let's just see what this thing is. If it's what I think it is we'll jump in. Okay?"

"Okay Yang," replied Ruby, as the two left the house.

From the distance they could see Qrow slouching as usual, but saw a somewhat defeated look from Cassie. Luckily, they left when they did, otherwise there was no way Ruby and Yang would have been able to trail the two. The two entered the forest that Qrow mentioned, and the sisters followed, trying to be as quiet as they could. Eventually, Qrow and Cassie broke off from the gravel trail and made their way to a clearing. Ruby and Yang quickly hid in a bush nearby, but it only allowed them to see Qrow.

"Alright kid," Qrow said after a moment, "I know this is pretty awkward, but you know I can't do anything with the shirt on."

"I know…" Cassie finally said, "Just don't look, okay?"

"Hey, I'm not an asshole kid," Qrow said.

Ruby and Yang heard a rustling of clothing as Cassie removed her shirt. Ruby almost gasped, but Yang had the foresight to place her hand over her sister's mouth.

"Turn around, and bite something," Qrow demanded, "I know this hurts pretty bad, so you might wanna keep down the screaming."

"Okay, just please be quick," Cassie pleaded.

Yang being unable to see what was happening had heard enough. She barged out of the bushes and into view of both Qrow and Cassie.

"Hey, you don't need to…" was all Yang could say, as she finally saw the full picture.

"Cassie, listen we can help…" Ruby tried to say as she got up just like her sister.

"Shit," Qrow cursed.

Before them was definitely not what the sisters expected from the conversation that just transpired. What they got was Qrow with his weapon drawn above, ready to slice something from Cassie's back, something they could never see through the baggy shirt that she had worn earlier.

"You… You have wings?!" Ruby and Yang exclaimed.


End file.
